A homeless couple has set up camp in Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s (D) old neighborhood, Astoria, and locals are sick and tired of their disturbing behavior.
The couple has been accused of drinking, having sex, and pooping in pizza boxes while frustrated locals try to go about their daily routines, the New York Post reported Saturday.
The pair that was identified as Michael and Marabel have taken over the sidewalk on 30th Avenue where neighbor Chris Shingler said he noticed them one day.
“I’m on the way to the gym, 8:30 a.m., the guy is squatting over a camp chair and the other woman is holding a pizza box under him to defecate in,” he recalled, adding it was also an area where many children live and go to nearby schools.
Shingler said his wife also witnessed the woman performing oral sex on her partner.
Meanwhile, the Post said a reporter recently saw the couple become enraged when cleaners hired by a nearby building tried to get them to move.
“If you bother my wife, I’ll f–k you up!” the man reportedly said as he drank from a vodka bottle. The Post shared an image of the man holding the bottle as he lay in what appeared to be a pile of blankets and plastic bags:
Police said they have received complaints about the couple but claimed there was no proof they were doing anything illegal, adding they cannot remove them without their consent.
Before Mamdani took office in January, he had planned to end the practice of clearing out homeless encampments and was going to address the issue through his proposed Department of Community Safety to connect those individuals with some form of housing, per Breitbart News.
However, the Post reported in March that Mamdani was building a men’s homeless shelter in Brooklyn, a move that sparked protests.
Wang Xiaoyu told the outlet neighbors must “fight back,” adding, “This mayor thinks he has the power to do anything he wants, but that’s not the case. He thinks the best way to make the homeless feel at home is to put them in busy areas like 86th Street, but these people are mentally ill. They need a hospital, not a shelter.”
In late 2024, New York was ranked as second on the list of states with the biggest homeless populations, according to CBS New York:
Harsh winter weather resulted in several New Yorkers being found dead outside earlier this year, and a Queens leader who endorsed Mamdani for mayor criticized the Democrat Socialist’s administration for not forcing people to get inside.
“You can’t let the people stay out there. These are people in crisis,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards stated.
In regard to the homeless couple in Mamdani’s old neighborhood, Shingler told the Post, “There has to be a line in the sand where you can’t allow that kind of behavior, because of the health risk, because of the safety risk.”
